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March 6, 2019

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Defense budget growth rate to be lowered

CHINA will lower its defense budget growth rate to 7.5 percent in 2019, from last year’s 8.1 percent, according to a draft budget report submitted to the annual session of the National People’s Congress yesterday.

The 2019 defense budget will be 1.19 trillion yuan (US$177 billion). The rate marks the fourth straight year for the budgeted growth rate to remain in single digits, following five consecutive years of double-digit increases.

China’s budgeted defense spending growth rate stood at 8.1 percent in 2018, 7 percent in 2017, and 7.6 percent in 2016.

Describing China’s defense budget as reasonable and appropriate, Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the legislative session, said it aimed to “meet the country’s demand in safeguarding national security and military reform with Chinese characteristics.”

He Lei, former deputy head of the Academy of Military Sciences, said expenditure has been mainly used for advancing defense and military reforms, supporting military training and diverse tasks, modernizing weapons and equipment, and improving welfare of service personnel.

“The defense budget is appropriate against the backdrop of profound changes in the country’s strength, its security environment and the global strategic situation,” said He, who is also a deputy to the NPC.

China’s defense budget takes up a fairly small share of its GDP and national fiscal expenditure compared with other major countries, He noted.

While the national defense spending in a number of major developed countries accounts for more than 2 percent of their GDP, the ratio was only about 1.3 percent for China in 2018.

The United States has increased its national defense expenditure for the fiscal year 2019 to US$716 billion, about four times the budget of China, the world’s second-largest economy. China’s military spending per capita is only about 1/19 of that of the US.

Chen Zhou, research fellow with the Academy of Military Sciences, added: “China has always been following the path of peaceful development and firmly adheres to a defense policy that is defensive in nature.”

Chen said the Chinese military has actively participated in United Nations peacekeeping missions, maintained security of marine passages, and engaged in international rescue and security cooperation.

“The growth in China’s defense spending is the growth of forces for world peace,” he noted.


 

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